The researchers noted that the more dogs were observed, the greater the frequency of movement AU101 (the term referring to the dog’s eyes).

If dogs can communicate with us (I believe other animals do), we can say they are more than just animals.

Proof of this is a magnetic resonance imaging study in dogs trained to remain awake during the examination.

The result of the exam was so surprising that one of the team’s scientist Dr. Gregory Burns stated in The New York Times:

Dogs are people like us.

So, while Burns concludes that they are people, the University of Portsmouth concludes that they are aware.

Awareness of dogs

The Portsmouth team concluded that increasing use of facial expressions of dogs shows that they are aware.

So, they know the benefits they can get from this.

The British newspaper Daily Mail referred to the statement of one of the authors of the survey:

‘This could be for two possible reasons. Firstly, AU101 resembles a facial movement which in humans indicates sadness, hence potentially making humans feels more empathic towards dogs that produce this movement more.

‘Another possibility is that the AU101 lets the eyes of the dogs appear bigger and more infant like.

‘Regardless of the exact mechanism, it seems that humans are particularly responsive to this facial movement in dogs.

‘Increased production of this movement in response to human attention could benefit dogs in their interaction with humans, therefore.’

So, pay attention the next time you observe your dog. If he makes “little face” of poor thing and helpless baby face, even being an adult, you can be sure of it: